RP Alt

Sylvance

Playing which of these classes is likely to open up the richest avenues for RP?

Xli

It's not just class that counts, house, city, order affiliations all count.

Nim

I voted serpent just because it gives you a whole new dimension to roleplay in.

Literally.

Phase roleplaying.

(I don't actually know if this happens.)

Trevize

I vote alchemist because there are way too many serpents.

Sylvance

Xli said:

It's not just class that counts, house, city, order affiliations all count.

Yep, sorry @Xli, I should've been clearer in the OP, but are there certain Houses that you would recommend based on either class choice?

Xith

Alchemist, cause it's untapped. You should tap that.

Serpent is just "guys, go infiltrate stuff, steal things, and assassinate people. We'll click our tongues occasionally to make people think we're up to some actual roleplay".

Xli

I know of a few chars who've started out as alchemist but gotten bored. Perhaps they started for the wrong reasons - to make "easy" money by providing minerals - but they've changed. Speak to members of both classes and get their thoughts?

Skye

as a serpent, house and city are optional unless you want to milk. Alchemists require at least a city. So you'll want to think about that as well

Sylvance

@Skye - is milking just for selling venoms, or do you also need it to envenom?

Cahin

Milking is just for putting venoms into vials.

Sylvance

Sorry - does that mean that a serp can envenom without vials or not?

ETA: Your sig is freaking BAMF, @Cahin

Kuruvar

I voted serpent because the Naga in particular seem to be on a heavy RP push right now. I'd recommend checking them out, if you're of a time zone that will allow you to be around when the cool people are.

Iocun

Which class offers the "richest avenues for RP" is really impossible to say, because that depends entirely on what you make of it. The real question you should thus ask yourself is: "what class can best provide me with a theme I will enjoy roleplaying with", assuming you want to base a character around class RP, as it seems here.

So consider the class archetypes:

Serpents are stereotypically underhanded and sly, with little regard for honour and laws. They have a wild, animalistic aspect (see Loki and Ekanel), yet still with much more surgical precision and mental acuity than just a wild beast. They won't be pompous or loud, nor particularly civil.

Alchemists are "arcane scientists". Where magi study the elements and occultists study chaotic forces, alchemists study matter and its transformations. Rather than throwing lightning bolts at their opponents, they prefer to seek to understand the composition of their opponents' bodies and affect it directly. They will generally be thirsty for knowledge and spend lots of time with meticulous research and experimentation. But all their science is also paired with an esoteric magic that works strongly with symbolism. 

Now, your question is whether to draw your character from such an archetype or not. In practice, no serpent or alchemist is exactly like this archetype, but if they do any "class roleplay" at all, chances are they will at least have some of those aspects as parts of their character.

It is, of course, also possible not to roleplay your class at all, but have your character defined by entirely different things, with the class being not much more than a set of acquired skills for the purpose of achieving your character's other goals. But even then it is generally wise not to just completely ignore your class's stereotypes and history, but still consider how your character feels about them. Doing something outside the expected is not wrong at all, but you should try to be able to explain it. And "outside the expected" doesn't mean "doing the very contrary in all respects". Just being 100% atypical for the sake of it isn't very exciting and may get on people's nerves. (Iocun, for instance, certainly isn't a typical serpent, his character being much more defined by his monastic house than his class. He isn't sneaky, doesn't murder, doesn't steal, doesn't lie. But there are still some aspects that fit: he's generally quiet and inconspicuous, prefers nature to cultured city-life, and has little regard for formalities, social conventions, and hierarchical structures.)

Blujixapug

I think once you have Envenom in Subterfuge, you can secrete directly onto weapons. I don't know if you need Transcretion in Venom for that to be practical or not.

I'd say play whatever you have the best character concept for. If the character doesn't click in your mind, if you can't get into their personality, it's hard to force yourself to roleplay them.

Sylvance

Okay. You guys rock.  Think I have all I need to make my decision.

Huge thanks!

Eld

Blujixapug said:

I think once you have Envenom in Subterfuge, you can secrete directly onto weapons. I don't know if you need Transcretion in Venom for that to be practical or not.

I'd say play whatever you have the best character concept for. If the character doesn't click in your mind, if you can't get into their personality, it's hard to force yourself to roleplay them.

Once you have Envenom, you can envenom dirks and such from vials, but not secrete directly, I think. You can secrete onto arrows, but only with venoms that you've learned the ability for in Venom. So if you have envenom in Subterfuge, and Venom up to, say, Camus, you'll be able to envenom arrows with prefarar but not delphinium, for example. Milking isn't required for any of it, but for combat, you'll need to buy venoms in vials until you trans Venom.

Drauka

Play whatever you may enjoy the most. 

Personally, I'd rather play what there isn't a ton of already.

Vayne

Alchemists are so underutilized right now, I am still hoping they catch on eventually regardless of the perception of how good they are at combat.

Serpents are great. A good culture has been grown over the years between the serpent houses, there is a lot of rivalry and tension between them that can make interaction a lot of fun on top of the general thief, assassin, spy roles, which are still great fun in of themselves. And despite all being Serpent houses, I think each one has their own unique spin on the role whether it be the Serpentlords, Naga, or Shadowsnakes.

Antidas

@Sylvance @Blupikachu you need transcretion in venom to secrete directly onto your dirk. As Eld said, envenom in subterfuge only lets you envenom your weapon from a vial of a venom you previously owned. So you can potentially go out and buy every venom required and be semi-capable without transing venom.